I'm IronForge - a BSD Newbie. Been a Linux user for 6 yrs or so. Had some hackers break down my system for awhile, so I decided to install OpenBSD. I've few situations I need your input on:

1) I tried dowloading the -STABLE Ports Collection (boy did it take awhile -Ha!); and came up with several incomplete compilings (let it run overnight...). When I try to patch the ports up (after "making clean"), I get the following:

? port genre/product_name/product_component/w-packagename

for example:
? x11/gtk+/w-gtk+-1.2.10p7

I've about 60 of these. The problem is, that for this example, I can't make uninstall, reinstall, or pkg_delete since the package is bound to libdv-0.104p2.

What's going on here? Does the "w-" prefix indicate a problem as well, since when I (make) reinstalled another port on the list, "cvs -q up"-ing (haven't RTFM completely -sorry) still gives me the "? w-package-info-tree" again?

2) After my initial ports make-install, I tried to install Gnome. I do have the gdm up; but the windowing environment is still FVWM... The good news is, I can call several apps (gedit, epiphany). Per the aforementioned example, the gtk+ and other ports are in a "bind". I presume this is related.

...and came up with several incomplete compilings (let it run overnight...).

It is unclear whether you are stating that downloading the ports tree failed or whether you were actually trying to build all applications. In either event, it would be beneficial to become conversant with the information found in Section 15 of the FAQ:

In general (& this is a prominent statement made in Section 15.1...), there is little need to build packages manually from the ports tree. Many packages are already available at the mirrors. Many newcomers to OpenBSD believe that building packages are preferred when in fact there is no difference between manually building packages & using what is already available unless the makefiles themselves are altered.

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I also found out that I don't have a "Xenacaro" Directory and my xobj Directory is empty.

Correct. Source for the following:

the operating system

ports

Xenocara

...are not installed by default. This is covered in Section 5.3 - 5.5 of the FAQ:

You are only cheating yourself. You will save yourself significant time & aggravation now if you take the time to study this document. More than merely an FAQ, this is the single best (& only official) how-to document which describes the whole of OpenBSD.

Again, it is unclear why you are attempting to build applications through compilation as opposed to simply installing the pre-compiled packages. There is no functional difference between -release & -stable, so installing -release packages is intended. Some packages have been updated for -stable, but you have not mentioned any specific reason why you are building.

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Still get the "w-pkgname" listings; but presume the upgrades went.

Per Section 15.3.1 (emphasis added...):

Quote:

When a user issues make(1) in the subdirectory of a specific port, the system will recursively walk its dependency tree, check whether the required dependencies are installed, build and install any missing dependencies, and then continue the build of the desired port. All of the building happens inside the working directory that the port creates. Normally it is under ${WRKOBJDIR}, defaulting to /usr/ports/obj, but you may override this (see Configuration of the ports system). If WRKOBJDIR has been explicitly unset, a subdirectory of the port's main directory (package name prefixed by "w-") will be used instead.

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Tried to make build the Xenocara directory per Faq5 (checkout from anoncvs); but encountered Code1 Errors.

You should ensure that you downloaded the correct version of the tree. If you retrieved the head of CVS (which is -current) instead of explicitly specifying the OPENBSD_4_5 tag (for -stable), this may explain why you are getting weird build errors.

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Should I ignore this error?

No. Be sure that you completely understand what code is to be fetched as outlined in Section 5.3.3 & 5.5.

Thanks for the input. I read from several sources on how to initialize ports after install - I read the importance of ports before; and tried FreeBSD where pkgs/ports updates were done via portsnap (which was straightforward for me). I also had print media for the FreeBSD install available.

I've been hacked rather heavily these past weeks; and decided to move to BSD. Some hacker broke into my FreeBSD install and deleted the "getty" terminal login file, so I couldn't boot.

Instead of trying to fix it, I decided to go with OpenBSD for the increased security.

I did review the faq_chpt 5.5 Minor point - don't know if it's an editorial error or a glitch in the install - the section implies that /usr/xenocara is prexistant in the installed system prior to the build with its reference to the README file at the beginning - I didn't have the directory at all.

I tried to build Xenocara again - making sure that I had the -STABLE tree checked out. I'm getting the same errors - posted the last pkg the build was working on:

Instead of trying to fix it, I decided to go with OpenBSD for the increased security.

As a caution, security is a process & has to be dealt with as a whole. Throwing OpenBSD at a problem may or may not fix an ill-defined situation. If access is the fundamental issue, you may want to focus on how access is being acheieved -- firewall rules, physical access to the boxen, etc.

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I tried to build Xenocara again - making sure that I had the -STABLE tree checked out. I'm getting the same errors - posted the last pkg the build was working on:

The symbol I915_PARAM_NUM_FENCES_AVAIL is introduced in 4.5-current (now 4.6-current). It was not available in the OPENBSD_4_5 CVS branch. It appears that you have not downloaded the source base for 4.5-stable.

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xobj was wiped out per the FAQ, should I have cleared out any other directory before my 2nd attempt?

No, however the wrong source branch appears to have been downloaded. To build Xenocara for 4.5-stable, the appropriate steps are:

Man, that was something. My first omission on the tree reference - my bust. I referenced the -STABLE branch the second time (on my own - before your last entry) and "rm -rf"'d xobj (per instructions; but didn't "rm" the xenocara directory. Third time (today) was a charm.

So I have Xenocara up. I've updated the ports via CVSROOT; and will remove the "w-" directories (btw, tried "w-" on the text search at openbsd.org several times - too many other similar text coughed up on the query). Teaches me to read instead of scanning the reference matl.

Gnome no longer is a mystery. Tooled around with the gdm... do have the Desktop up on login now...how embarrassing. Guess I was too used to be on Fedora, Ubuntu, and SuSE, where a desktop was already chosen as a default. Never took the time to "discover" other Desktops, since I had liveCDs of other distros that had them.

I appreciate your input ocicat; and hope I didn't waste too much of your time.

Best regards

Last edited by IronForge; 14th July 2009 at 07:05 PM.
Reason: Solution Found